Being an invested spectator during the handling of the Nintendo DSi XL / 3DS affair over the past couple weeks has been one of the most fascinating, and confounding, situations I have seen in the nearly 20 years I have been watching the industry.
Now it’s not the first time there has been a bad hardware launch, this isn’t our first exposure to an information leak, and we’ve certainly seen more demonstrations of bad Public Relations decisions. The SEGA Dreamcast, PSP Go pictures, and caged nude dancers are three of the first examples that come quickly to my mind, while readers will no doubt be able to come up with even better ones of their own.
But this perfect storm is quite unique. Days before the launch of another very optional $100+ incremental hardware upgrade, Nintendo hastily shoots out a short, detail-light press release announcing their next big handheld which will be 3D-capable!?!
What was the response?
I had been expecting to write an article myself on the NDSi XL once I had made my purchase, but here is an excerpt from an email I wrote to one of the Staff here, Mike Siciliano:
I ended up waiting on my purchase of the NDSi XL. It is just a lot of money and frankly I am pissed at the constant baby steps of hardware improvements and releases Nintendo makes and insulted they would have the gall (sp?) to announce another major piece of hardware (an entire new platform!) just days before the XL release at retail. I almost feel like writing an article about that. Will it play NDS games? If so, and it’s not to far off, I am not going to play their game this time and I’ll just be frustrated, increasingly angry, and try to wait it out. In this economy gamers and parents of gamers don’t have money to throw around but many of them do have an almost religious loyalty to Nintendo that could very easily be taken advantage of. Sometimes I wonder if they are just doing what they do, or doing what they think they can do?
We get a lot of press releases sent to us. Myself, it’s not unusual to see near a hundred of them hit my inbox in a day. With that much competition, its hard to capture our attention. But when I glimpsed an email saying that development studio “Bloober Team” is announcing the first title being developed exclusively for the iPad, and their calling it “Gender Wars: The Battle”, I couldn’t help but sit up and take notice. When I then read that the lead designer described the game like this,
“In a way, and I understand that it’s bit bold to say, we would like to create something similar to Metal Gear Solid for iPad.”
I start to scratch my head and a confused look passes over my face. Gender Wars? Solid Snake?
But it doesn’t end there so I am posting the original press release in full (minus legally sensitive info, of course) after the break so you can read it for yourself. It’s one of the stranger ones we have ever come across and was either written by some kind of genius, or someone on acid. We’ve also posted the game’s sole screenshot to be released so far. (For those not sure about clicking through, the screenshot does not contain any images of Gender-specific anatomical parts battling it out.)
Here are both the screenshot and the press release:
Only minutes ago and after months of rumor and speculation, self proclaimed genius, Steve Jobs, stunned the world by announcing yet another product sure to change the way we live life as we know it. It’s the Apple iPad! While most people thought Mr. Jobs would choose a more descriptive and less feminine hygiene product-sounding name, like iSlate or iTablet, the biggest surprise was actually the price. The most basic model (16GB/WiFi, no 3G) is only $499 which makes it much more affordable than most industry watchers expected and is probably meant to help it overcome some of the consumer adoption concerns many anticipate. The iPads will be managed through iTunes and run existing iPhone apps in a window (or pixel-doubled fullscreen) and will ship unlocked and attached to any specific carrier. WiFi-only units are supposed to hit store shelves in only 60 days with 3G-enabled units following 30 days beyond that.
After watching this video and seeing what average nerds are now capable of doing with easily attainable technology (a Takara Tomy i-SOBOT), I can’t help but wonder how far off is some James Cameron -esque Skynet/Terminator style future where we’re forced to perform silly tricks for our robot masters?
Yesterday Logitech announced that this November it would be coming out with another keyboard aimed at the gaming market, in just enough time for it to land on holiday wishlists. Called the G110, it’s meant to replace the original G11 so Logitech is trying to keep it affordable while at the same making sure it has the looks and enough features that you can still hold your head high at LAN parties.
Now we haven’t gotten are hands on one yet, but from our experience Logitech has the best track record in the industry for delivering both quality hardware and smart design – so our expectations are pretty high. Currently the announced MSRP is $79.99, a $20 jump from the G11’s suggested price, but that still should leave it well within the affordable range of most dedicated cost-conscious PC gamers. And while it may not have the LCD screen of more expensive models like the G19, it still has a very respectable collection of features.
Here they are, straight from the announcement:
• Custom-color character backlighting* lets you easily locate the correct keys, even in the dark. Mix red and blue backlighting LEDs in varying intensities to create custom colors.
• Integrated USB audio with separate headphone and mic jacks and mute buttons mean you can use any analog headset with 3.5 mm plugs as a USB audio device for clear communication with low distortion and wide range.
• Twelve programmable G-keys with three macros per key* let you configure up to 36 unique functions per game, including single keypresses or complex macros. The MR key can be used to record new macros on the fly.
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub port lets you connect a flash drive for fast data transfer or quickly plug in your gaming mouse.
• Game/desktop mode switch disables the Windows/Context Menu keys so they won’t interrupt your game if pressed accidentally.
As we mentioned before, Logitech’s G110 Gaming Keyboard won’t be available until sometime next month, but we’ll be sure and let you know if we have a chance to get our hands on one before then. In the meantime however, they have told us that for the next 13 days only they are accepting pre-orders with free shipping here.
Bidding starts at 12pm noon today on a very large collection of props and artifacts from the likes of Amelia Earhart, Michael Jackson and Stan Winston. We’ve included a more complete list below, but some particular items worth noting are Gus Grissom’s space flight suit, Michael Jackson’s glittery white glove, a full-scale male T-Rex head from Jurassic Park, multiple Terminator endoskeletons, Kirk’s Starfleet uniform from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Michael Keaton’s Batman costume, a 17-foot Bumblebee from Transformers, and even Predator, Ghostbusters, He-Man and Freddy Kreuger memorabilia.
The list goes on and on. If you’re rolling in dough and want to pick out something to wear Trick-or-Treating early this year, the auction ends tomorrow (Oct. 9) so head over to this link to place your bets. (If you’re looking for a little more affordable memorabilia and reproductions though, we recommend you checkout some of the amazing stuff from Sideshow Collectibles.)
More pictures follow and from the press release, here is what’s on the block: read more…
I had been expecting to write an article myself on the NDSi XL once I had made my purchase, but here is an excerpt from an email I wrote to one of the Staff here, Mike Siciliano:
(Ratings Average: 4.00 out of 5)
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